Restarauntia
by SokuDragon
Summary: After losing his job and his money during an important business trip to the US, Arthur finds himself in a tight spot as he begins his new job as a waiter at The World Buffet, which was under the management of one Alfred F. Jones. AU fic AsaKiku
1. Chapter 1

**First Hetalia fic, based off of a picture I saw once. Hopefully it isn't too bad. All comments are welcomed, whether it be good reviews or harsh criticism. Flaming is allowed, too, since some flamers actually do have some sense to detect the little problems in, er, stuff. Anyway, let's get on with it.**

Everyone's had one of those days where you just feel like throwing yourself off of a cliff, going completely emo and just cutting little slits in your wrist. Arthur Kirkland was having one of those days. The British man had gone to Virginia for a business trip originally, but even then, bad luck decided to follow him. His plane ride to reach his desired destination had been delayed, thus causing him to be late one day for his business trip, which had been told to him at the very last minute from one of the new employees at his workplace. On his bus ride to the meeting place where the business transaction was to occur, he had succeeded in soiling his good suit whilst spilling his tea all over himself and his paperwork, losing his wallet and later on his briefcase, and getting a sound beating from an old woman for cursing out loud with children in the bus. This all happened, and he hadn't even gotten off the bus yet. More problems just continued to occur for him, and by the time he had reached the place he wanted to get to, he was less than presentable in front of his important client. He was promptly fired the moment the meeting ended.

So now, he was unemployed, staying in a cheap hotel room, and had no money on him. He was just lucky that he wasn't in a foreign country where he couldn't understand a word the people were saying. Arthur had just returned from a walk around the town and plopped himself down on his small lounge chair, thinking over the past few days. In just a grand total of three days, he had proceeded to ruining his life of employment and losing his money, all the while staying in a country he didn't feel quite comfortable in. After all of that, he concluded that his day had been terrible and that he needed some rest. Eventually, a job would be on that list of things he needed to do. He couldn't bother himself to change or move himself over to his bed, so he fell asleep on his lounge chair.

The next morning, he awoke in a foul mood. He felt there wasn't much to wake to, other than to search for a job in order to make enough money to go back to Britain, back to his home. He left his hotel room in order to find a newspaper lying around in the street. Luckily, it didn't take long for him to find one, though it was slightly crumpled and had several footprints over it. He checked the job section and browsed his options. He was disappointed to find that the only interesting choices were a job as a waiter at a restaurant for its grand opening and an employee at a fast food restaurant near the area.

To Arthur, there was no competition. He would try out the job as a waiter. Fast food restaurants weren't very appealing to the Brit, making him barf when he even thought to be near the stuff for more than a few minutes, much less a few hours. The restaurant turned out to be a buffet, more specifically "The World Buffet." Arthur felt himself thinking how unoriginal that title was, but figured that he would have to get used to it. The grand opening banner was splayed across the top of the building with bright glittery effects and neon colored letters. Arthur almost wondered how he had managed to walk through the town without noticing it.

"Best of British luck, I guess. Though what luck have I really got left?" The Brit told himself cynically as he pushed open the glass door, only to notice the automatic door just to his left. He just groaned silently to himself and continued in. There didn't seem to be anyone inside, so he stopped in his tracks.

"Nobody in, so I think I'll just leave." Arthur quickly turned and was about to head out the door when a hand grasped his shoulder. Arthur flinched for a split second before daring to turn himself around. He was welcomed with a not-so-welcoming, stern face from a tall man with slicked back blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Arthur shivered just looking at him.

"Are you here for a job application?" The man asked in a gruff voice. Arthur just stiffly nodded as the man just quickly nodded back and pulled a clipboard from seemingly nowhere.

"May I ask your name?"

"Arthur Kirkland." The tall man wrote something down on the clipboard as he tore the paper off the pad and neatly folded it and tucked it into his pocket.

"Follow me in order to sign the necessary pa—"

"Ludwig!" All of a sudden, a short brunette with a strange hair curl bounded from out of nowhere and latched himself onto the tall man who was obviously named Ludwig. He had tightly hugged the tall man and was dangling just off his shoulders. Arthur decided it best not to ask any questions.

"Feliciano! I've told you time and time again, you will not interrupt me when I am helping new employees with job application papers," Ludwig said sternly his companion, who just pouted and looked at Arthur, now ignoring Ludwig.

"You don't need to do any paperwork! As long as you work for the manager, you get paid!" Ludwig just pinched the bridge of his nose and used his other free hand to rub his temple. Arthur just slowly nodded, not sure of whether to believe the brunette named Feliciano.

"Let's take him to the manager, Ludwig!" The tall man just nodded in consent, and the three of them headed threw some double back doors. Along the way, Arthur had learned that the man named Ludwig was German, and that Feliciano was Italian. Just as they got through the doors, a large body jumped out at Arthur and knocked him down. When he had decided to open his eyes, the Englishman found a tall, thin man with blonde hair standing above him, his left hand on his hip and his right holding a rather large and fattening hamburger.

"So, you're the new employee, huh?" The man with the glasses took a large bite out his hamburger, spilling the grease on the floor as he savored the many flavors. Arthur almost gagged. He found the energy to simply nod once.

"He's our new waiter!" Feliciano piped up, but the blonde man seemed to be ignoring him. Arthur had found his energy and sat up. Ludwig had helped him stand back up as he dusted off his outfit. The man with the hamburger had finished his hamburger (In two bites?!) and held his hand out.

"I'm Alfred F. Jones, the manager! It's nice to meet you!" Arthur took one look at the greasy hand offered to him and quickly declined the offer. This man named Alfred was so…happy-go-lucky. It made Arthur want to throw his hands in the air and just be pessimistic, just for the heck of it.

"Alright, so, I'm guessing you want to know your job and stuff, right?"

"Well, obviously," Arthur retorted, but he hadn't caught himself on time to correct his rude statement. Alfred, however, didn't even seem to notice Arthur had said a word.

"Alrighty then! Well, the way this buffet works is that we work in pairs! Except me, of course. I'm in charge, so I don't need a partner! I'm just that amazing. I work the cash register, I manage the buffet, I—"

"Are you going to tell me how the system works or not?" Alfred seemed to have caught himself and realized that he had been rambling, though it didn't bother the American one bit.

"Oh, right! Well, we work in pairs of chef and waiter or waitress. So, you'll be assigned to a chef and will be responsible for serving food made ONLY by your assigned chef, unless in case of an emergency. Sound simple enough?"

"Yes, I do understand. But, isn't this a buffet? You really don't need that many waiters. People usually get up and get their food, do they not?" Alfred, however, wasn't listening.

"Don't bother, Kirkland. He won't bother listening or answering that question," Ludwig informed Arthur, who just sighed. Already he wasn't really liking this guy. It made him wonder if this restaurant would survive. Arthur just sighed once more, about ready to just go home and take a nap.

"So, who is my chef?" It didn't sound as enthusiastic as Arthur had wanted it to sound, but at this point he didn't really care much.

"Mm, hold up one second. Er, Kiku! I need you for a second!" In about five seconds, a somewhat medium heighted man with dark hair and eyes came out wearing a chef's outfit. He was wiping his hands on a napkin and had a rather unreadable expression on his face.

"Yes, Jones-san?"

"Mm, you're really smart, right? I need you to tell me which chefs are open for a waiter." It took about a second for the, obviously, Japanese man to answer.

"Currently, I am the only one open other than Bonnefoy-san." Arthur's ears perked up when he heard 'Bonnefoy.'

"Bonnefoy? As in Francis Bonnefoy? That French bastard works here?"

"Oh, I see you two are acquainted! Well, that's good to know!" Alfred commented from the side. He seemed to have ignored every inch of negativity from the statement.

"Yes, um…"

"Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

"Yes, Kirkland-san. A Francis Bonnefoy works here as well and is in charge of French cuisine."

"Bloody hell I'll work with that bastard."

"That settles it then! Kiku, your new partner is Arthur! Make sure to get along now. Work starts tomorrow morning at 4 in the morning, so don't be late, okay guys?" Arthur almost broke his jaw as he gaped at the American man.

"4 in the bloody morning?! Are you bloody barmy, you git?!"

"Name-calling is low, Arthur. Salary deduction!"

"What?! I haven't even violated any rules yet!"

"Yeah, you violated rule number one! Kiku, what is rule number one in the official employee's guidebook?"

"To properly wash your hands after usage of the washroom."

"No, the OTHER rule number one!"

"Jones-san, alternate rule number one A or B?"

"Um…B."

"To respect the manager and use only words he himself will understand. The add-on to Alternate Rule Number One B as of approximately 5 seconds ago states that troubling the manager in any way, including physically or psychologically, will result in salary deduction."

"Who came up with that idiotic rule? Wait, forget I asked."

"If I may, Jones-san, Kirkland-san cannot get a salary deduction if a)he has not worked yet or b) he has committed the offense, but does not really have a salary in order to deduct from. In this scenario, both rules apply." Alfred stood for a moment to think it over.

"What? Kiku, you've just directly violated the rule you just stated! Salary deduction! Anyway, for the rest of you, get up bright and early to come in and clean up the restaurant. I want it so squeaky clean, the floor is able to comprehend my radiating authority and awesomeness."

"Will you be doing any of the cleaning?" Arthur ventured, though he could almost guess the answer. Alfred looked at Arthur in horror.

"Arthur! Do you really think that my hands, which are full of amazingness and awesomeness, are meant for cleaning?!"

"Um, yes?"

"Eh-eh! Wrong answer! My hands are just so much more awesome than you guys, they don't need to clean. My magic hands of radiating awesomeness are only used for managing and doing more important stuff. Now you all go home!" As this statement was said, they all dispersed and left the building. Arthur was walking towards his hotel, only to notice that Kiku, Ludwig, and Feliciano were all going in the same direction.

"Hey, you live down this way too?" Feliciano asked happily. Arthur just nodded. The Italian seemed to become even brighter with happiness, if at all possible. The four walked in silence for a few moments."

"Hey, um, Kiku, was it?" I'm really sorry for getting your salary deducted."

"It is okay, Kirkland-san. There's really nothing to worry about."

"It's true. The manager says he'll deduct your salary, but by the time you remind him of it, he won't even remember why he was deducting your salary to begin with," Ludwig explained. "He doesn't even pay you that much to begin with."

"Oh, this is where I and Ludwig leave. We'll see you both tomorrow!" The Italian called excitedly.

"More like in eight hours," Arthur mumbled to himself. He was left to walk with his assigned partner for a while. The walk was mostly filled with awkward silence between them, simply because neither one had anything interesting to say.

"So…how's your day been, Kiku? Have you been working under that idiot for a long time?"

"I have not worked for Jones-san long, only about three days. It has given me the necessary time in order to learn how the business works. My day went quite normally today. To say that the biggest event today would be your hiring would be an understatement. What about you, Kirkland-san? How is it so far for you?" At this point Arthur gave a loud sigh.

"My day…it wasn't so great, I guess." Arthur proceeded to tell Kiku of his many encounters with bad luck that day while the other man listened attentively.

"Mm, that sounds very unlucky, Kirkland-san. I think you should go home and rest. Instead of walking, why did you not take a taxi or a bus?" Arthur scratched the back of his head, obviously embarrassed.

"Well, during that bus ride I was telling you about, I seemed to have lost my wallet as well. That's exactly the reason I decided to find employment."

"Would you like me to pay for a bus for you?"

"NO! I mean, it wouldn't be right for me to just take money from you. Of course, I'm not saying that just to be polite! It's all for my benefit, for my image!" Kiku just stared at him oddly, obviously confused at the sudden change in attitude.

"Kirkland-san, you are quite a blunt person." With that last comment, Arthur found that he had reached his hotel. He bid a silent farewell to his working partner for the duration of his stay and went up to his room. That night, he fell asleep the moment he hit the hay.

**God, that took awhile. Tell me if anyone is OOC! If they are, tell me how to improve their character. Appearances from the other countries next chapter, as well as the first day of work! Let's all wish Arthur some luck towards his new job working under Alfred. Any pairing ideas, anyone?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Really sorry for such a long wait, guys! It's been so long, I don't even remember, haha. But I just got around to re-reading this fic, and I decided, what the hey, I should continue it. It wasn't such a bad start, after all. So, here's the extremely long-awaited chapter two of Restaurantia!**

_"Wh—where the bloody hell am I?" Arthur looked at his surroundings as he began to rub his head, as if it had just been hit by a hammer. He was in a rather familiar looking building, almost too familiar. It took him just a split second afterwards to realize that he was standing within his own home. He basked in the familiarity of it all, missing the feel of home sweet home. It felt so real, so pleasing. He looked down all of the halls and at the paintings on the walls; walked through the ever-pleasant kitchen in which he cooked his meals; and gazed at a picture upon his desk of a friend he missed dearly. _

_ Depicted within the frame was Arthur himself, albeit several years younger with a smile on his face so wide and so genuine, it was almost a miracle if a smile even half that size would be found on the current Arthur's face. Next to him stood a rather shy looking boy, around the same age as the picture-Arthur, with hair contrasting with Arthur's and dark pools for eyes. They had their arms wrapped around the other's shoulders in a fashion the current Arthur would allow of no one. _

_ Arthur sighed as he picked up the picture, delicately undoing the frame in order to hold the photograph in his hands. A small, sad smile crept upon his face as a tear seemed to fall from his cheek. Arthur, ever the proud man, would never let anybody find himself cry like this, but at this moment, he just let the tears fall. Daring to open his eyes through his tears, he gazed upon the photo once more. A horrid sight caught his eyes as the boy standing next to him in the picture disappeared._

_ "What the—" Arthur began, but was cut off as his house began to fall in ruins above him, crumbling to the floor for seemingly no reason at all. As Arthur began to panic, he grabbed the photo and the frame as he made a desperate dash towards the doorway, where an even more terribly sight caught his eyes. There, in the doorway, stood his long-lost friend from the photo, staring at him with glazed eyes and a bullet wound in his chest. The blood dripped freely, running down the length of his school uniform as he looked at Arthur, a creepy smile upon his face._

_ "Arthur…why didn't you save me, Arthur?" Arthur shivered at the menacing tone of voice._

_ "I—I don't know what you're talking about! I couldn't have saved you! I was on the floor…he had beaten me unconscious…! You were already dying when I woke up, I tried to call for help!" Arthur blurted out, but the ghost seemed to be unfazed by this little confession._

_ "It's all your fault, Arthur…! You picked a fight with him…you egged him on. And now, I'm dead and you'll live to regret it…Forever!"_

"Noo!" Arthur jumped up, covered in cold sweat as his heart pumped so loudly, he could swear the rest of the world could hear it. He paused for a few seconds, taking everything in. His bed was covered in his sweat, but he felt a bit of moisture around the edges of his eyes, so he assumed some of that water was from his tears as well. He put a hand to his chest, trying to slow his heart rate down.

"Just…just a nightmare…ha ha…just a…bloody nightmare…" Arthur reassured nervously to himself, panting from a lack of breath. He took a moment to burst into somewhat nervous laughter following that, until he heard a loud knocking at his door. His head immediately turned towards the new sound, staring at the cheap door to his room, wondering who on earth that could be. He slowly climbed out of his bed and noticed that he was still dressed from the day before. He figured that he looked somewhat presentable after straightening a few of the wrinkles, so he walked over to the doorway and reached for the knob.

He pulled after turning the knob and saw the hotel manager at his door. A bit surprised at the strange visitor, he just stared dumbfounded at the short, rather grumpy looking man.

"This is an…Arthur Kirkland, right?"

"Yes. What did you need?" The manager looked up from some papers he seemed to be carrying before taking one and throwing it into Arthur's hands.

"Your bill. You owe me money for staying additional nights. I would like to see that money by the end of today, you understand?" That's when it hit him. _The hotel fee! Oh, bloody hell! How could I forget? _Unsure of what to say to the man, he just nodded slowly as the man left without another word. Once he was out of hearing distance, Arthur slammed his forehead against the back of his closed door. He turned so that he was leaning against it on his back, and he slid to the floor. This really wasn't working for him. He missed home. At least there, such bad shortcomings wouldn't be able to catch up with him as fast without him being at least prepared.

Then, another thing hit him. He looked towards the clock, only to be horrified to find the time to be 9:00 AM. He had overslept incredibly! Rushing to get his things, Arthur burst out of the door the moment he was presentable to the outside, and hurried through the busy streets towards the buffet. He wasn't sure of the consequences, nor was he thinking of them. All he was thinking of was getting to work. In his whole life, he had never been late to work. This felt like a scratch to his pride, a scar in his working record.

When he saw the buffet in sight, he noticed that it had jammed lot, and there were a lot of noises coming from the inside. _Great, I'm late to work on the day of the bloody grand opening. Good job, Arthur._ Once he stood at the doors, he took a deep breath before entering the buffet. It was bustling with people, of all different nationalities, and business seemed to be booming. But one would not expect less of the grand opening. Arthur quickly ran into the kitchen and attempted to spy out his partner. He was trying to avoid the manager in case he got another sound lecture, or messed something up for his partner again. He noticed that Kiku wasn't in the kitchen as Arthur had expected. He did, however, notice Feliciano humming happily as he worked.

"Hey, Feliciano, was it? Do you happen to know where Kiku went?" Arthur asked the happy Italian. Noticing the absent man, he bounded over happily.

"Arthur! You're here! I thought something horrible had happened to you overnight, and that's why you weren't here today. Kiku's outside serving some customers in your place. I told him Ludwig would do it for him, but I guess he reaaalllyyy wanted to serve them himself. Kiku's such a busybody!" The Italian ended it with that, leaving Arthur alone. _He took my shift for me?_ Arthur couldn't help but wonder to himself. He looked towards the kitchen doors, waiting expectantly for the Japanese man to appear from behind them. To his great dismay, Ludwig marched through them instead, picking up another plate from Italy. Ludwig noticed Arthur standing there, staring at the door, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kiku's outside entertaining some customers. You should go outside and assist him." Arthur looked surprised as he looked towards the German, who had a tiny smile on his face.

"Y—yeah, I think I will…" Arthur said dumbly as he gained control of his mind once more and dashed out the doors. He searched around to see if he could find Kiku, and found him in front of a table full of British men. He seemed to be explaining something to them about the food on the table. Arthur could almost feel Kiku's discomfort from where he stood, so he marched over to take care of the situation. When he got there, he put a hand on Kiku's shoulder, which caught the attention of the shorter man.

"Kiku, if you don't mind, I'll take it from here." The Japanese man seemed to sigh in relief as he looked at the British man.

"Of course, Kirkland-san," Japan said in response. "It is nice to have you here," Japan whispered as he walked right by Arthur. Arthur felt his heart skip a beat as Kiku found his way back into the kitchen. He was unaware of the British men before him mutter in disappointment at the departing Japanese man. _What the hell was that? _Arthur thought as he restrained himself from putting his hand over his chest. But then his attention was turned to the men at the table, one of which had "ahem"ed to catch his attention. Shaking himself out of his little reverie, he smiled his waiter smile at them and pulled a notepad out of his apron.

"And how may I interest you today?" Arthur said in a voice that made him somewhat sick to his stomach. _Why the bloody hell do I have to cater to them when they can just get up and get food themselves? This IS a bloody buffet, isn't it? _

"Yeah, you can bring that chef back out here. We're interested to know what…this is," the British man said as he pointed to a random food object on the table. Arthur looked in the direction the man had pointed in, to which his groupmates seemed to be nodding in affirmation at, and saw a rice ball with a seaweed wrapping on it. Arthur almost deadpanned. _These men are…British, right? _Arthur could almost feel shame coming to him for being in the same group as this lot of men. He tried to muster up enough of his niceness to answer them without seeming too…mortified.

"That, sir, is a rice ball with seaweed. I believe that in Japan, they have a special name for it. I think they call it an 'onigiri'." Luckily for Arthur, he had read about a few Japanese dishes before. Just basic ones, but this knowledge would help him in the long run. The British men seemed to be uninterested in this information as they looked past Arthur. Curious to know what was distracting them, Arthur turned his head around to notice Kiku walking out of the doors once more to request something of another worker. Arthur felt something clench in his chest, but ignored it as his mind reeled for ways to distract their attention. He brought up the subject of Britain, a subject they were well-acquainted and very interested in.

Arthur felt himself fall backwards on a chair in exhaustion as the doors to the buffet finally closed. Alfred shut the doors with a loud thud and threw on a small, cheaply made sign that said 'Closed'.

"Good work today, team! Not as good as me, but I'm amazing. My epicness is just too much for…" America continued to ramble on as the rest of his workforce just ignored him. After what seemed like forever of America blabbering on about something that nobody even bothered to catch, he dismissed them from work.

"Don't forget, 4 EVERY morning! Don't be late! Because if you are, I'll just rub it in your faces, along with my awesome amazingness!" Everybody just grumbled in defeat as they pushed past him and out onto the sidewalk. The four began to walk in the same direction once more, heading towards their homes. And then, a something seemed to remind him of his hotel fee. When he had remembered, Feliciano and Ludwig had already gone, and it was just him and Kiku. He stopped dead in his tracks as the realization hit him, and he began to almost cower on the street. Kiku noticed the disturbance and stopped in his own tracks to look at the man sitting on the floor.

"Kirkland-san…?" The Japanese man said, hints of worry almost obvious in his voice as he knelt down next to the other man.

"It's…it's nothing, Kiku." The Japanese man just looked him firmly, a frown gracing his features.

"If you are on the street like this, Kirkland-san, I am sure that everything is not all right. What is the matter?" Arthur looked up at Kiku for the first time since the realization and noticed instantly the obvious worry and concern on his face. After a bit longer of staring than he intended, his eyes darted away from the seemingly endless voids of the Asian man. _That was strange…he reminds me of…_ Just the thought of the boy in the photo threatened to bring tears to his eyes, as well as some bad memories of the nightmare from before. Somehow, Arthur felt like he could trust this man. Although they had only met the day before, there was a bridge of trust that Arthur felt easily acquainted with in Kiku's presence. He sighed in defeat as he told Kiku of the problem.

"You see, remember when I told you I lost my wallet yesterday? Well, without money, I can't pay for my hotel fee because I only paid to stay for three days. It has been well over three days, and my job has yet to pay me for my rather poor services. The hotel manager expects the payment by midnight tonight." Kiku took a moment to catch all of that before rubbing his chin and "hmm"-ing thoughtfully.

"That certainly is a dilemma, Kirkland-san…I do not approve of, as they say in America, 'dodging your dues', but would you feel more comfort if I invited you to stay at my own lodgings until you are able to pay for your own?" _Feel more comfort! Bloody hell, sharing a room with another man? Awkward, if you ask me. _

"Kiku, I couldn't do that to you. I will be fine. I can just ask the manager to extend my fee for another day or two so that I can earn my wages and pay off some of it. I'll make ends meet somehow. But I appreciate the offer, really! I'm just not too comfortable sharing a room with another man, you know?" It took a moment for the Japanese man to nod in confirmation at that.

"I see. You are right, sharing a room with another man is indeed a bit awkward. I apologize for such a rash offer. But if I may assist you in any way, please feel free to ask me."

"That's really kind of you, but I'll be able to make it work somehow. I think I'll delay my sleep for now and go for a walk around town. It'll ease my mind."

"Very well then, Kirkland-san. I will be seeing you tomorrow at work." With that, the Japanese man bowed towards Arthur and continued to walk as Arthur watched him go. He took one final glance at the retreating person before turning and walking across the sidewalk. Indeed, he _would_ try to make ends meet, but how? He could barely handle making it to work in time. Life was being less than merciful to him. He strolled down the street, not really taking any of the surroundings in, but rather just being lost in his thoughts.

"My dream from last night…" _I've never had a dream like that before. That was the only time I had ever had a dream about him. I didn't even know him that well. Hell, I barely knew his name! But he made me feel…happy. Like nothing else really mattered. Not in that way, of course…! Oh, what the bloody hell am I doing? I'm arguing with myself. I grant I should be walking back now…I have an angry manager to deal with._

Arthur turned back towards his hotel room and took a deep breath before entering. He pushed the doors aside and prepared for the worst, only to see nothing coming his way. A bit uneasy at this lack of events, he decided to just go up to his room. Heck, if the manager wasn't going to come up to him, then it would save him the trouble. He decided this turn of luck was brightening his spirits a little, and he chose to take the stairs up to his room instead of the elevator.

Once he got to his room, he pushed the key in and turned the lock. Nothing seemed different, the manager hadn't taken all of his belongings out, and everything was as he had left it. The only difference was a slip of paper on the wardrobe. Arthur, curious, went up to look at it, and noticed that it was a receipt.

Scribbled on the receipt was a list of payments made for the next week or so. It was a list of his hotel fees, all paid off. A bit surprised at this strange turn of events, his eyes motioned lower on the receipt to check for a name. Scrawled in beautiful, smooth writing at the very bottom of the receipt, a signature had been scribbled for one Kiku Honda.

**And that's chapter 2! It's a tad bit longer than chapter 1, but I guess it makes up for all of the time I've lost on this one. I guess all I have left to say is: R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reviewing (if you did)! So, here's the next installment to **_**Restaurantia**_** for the readers out there.**

_CHAPTER 2 RECAP_

_Scribbled on the receipt was a list of payments made for the next week or so. It was a list of his hotel fees, all paid off. A bit surprised at this strange turn of events, his eyes motioned lower on the receipt to check for a name. Scrawled in beautiful, smooth writing at the very bottom of the receipt, a signature had been scribbled for one Kiku Honda._

For once, Arthur had had a very fulfilling night. He was definitely in high spirits, getting up even earlier than was required of his work and generally just feeling good. With his hotel fee troubles off of his shoulders, all he needed to worry about was finding a way back to Britain. He was starting to sense the first signs of homesickness, and he did not like the feeling. Of course, he would need to thank his work partner for such a generous donation to his cause. Arthur was unsure of what brought on this kind action, but he supposed that maybe Kiku was just a really nice guy.

"All right, ready for work and half an hour early. Splendid!" Arthur chimed to himself before striding out of his room and gently closing the door behind him. As he stepped out onto the street, he noticed it was still rather dark outside. No matter, no lack of sunlight was bringing his mood down today. He was at the buffet with 15 minutes to spare, which pleased him tremendously. At around the moment Arthur had reached the buffet, the manager was already inside and walking around.

"Ve~ Arthur! You're here early today~!" Arthur heard from behind him. He quickly swung himself around to see Feliciano bounding towards him, Ludwig in tow. His pleasant mood brought him to wave cheerfully at them as they approached. His joyful air didn't go unnoticed by either of them.

"Oh? You seem happy today. Did something good happen?" Ludwig asked, his voice monotone, but otherwise tinted with curiosity. Arthur just grinned at the taller man.

"It's nothing, really. Just, a few of my problems are off my shoulders, and, my word, does it feel brilliant!" Feliciano, engulfed in the happy aura that was emitting itself from the British man, gave him a hug, which the Brit uncharacteristically returned for a split second. And then, something caught Ludwig's attention.

"Hm? Where's Kiku?" Feliciano seemed to catch on as soon as the name was mentioned.

"Ve~ Ludwig's right! Kiku's usually here already. He'd be inside, helping the manager with the dirty work." Just then, the British man seemed to notice the obvious lack of the Japanese man.

"Then…perhaps that's why the manager's in there pacing?" Arthur pointed his thumb at the American man walking back and forth inside of the building. As they were about to press against the glass doors, the manager came up and burst open the doors.

"Hey, guys! You're supposed to be in here, working! Now get in!" He thrust the three of them inside and closed the doors once more. He immediately set them to work until they could see the sun rise outside.

"Ve…the manager usually doesn't work us this hard," Feliciano commented as they finished up with the menial chores. Ludwig just nodded. Before Arthur could say anything, the manager came up and towered over them once more.

"Hey, I didn't say you could stop! Now set everything up, people are coming and it's almost show time!" The manager quickly stomped away as he left his exhausted workers to finish the cleaning.

"What's got _his_ knickers in a knot? I never believed his stupid face could be so serious and…well, demanding," Arthur said to himself, but the other two had heard it as well.

"Who knows? Neither of us have seen him this serious either." The day continued slowly as the flow of customers dwindled from the day before. Feliciano and Ludwig quickly got to work as Arthur went to find Alfred. When he had found the office, he quietly knocked on the door. When the said door swung open in front of him, he saw Alfred sitting in his seat doing _actual paperwork_. It was enough to send him off his rocker. Quietly noting and photographing this moment into his memory, he tapped on the door to get the manager's attention.

"What?" Alfred asked rather firmly. Arthur could say he might've taken the guy seriously if he didn't already know what Alfred was like normally.

"How am I supposed to work without a partner? If you didn't notice, Kiku's not here, and I'm in no position to cook." Alfred glanced up from his paperwork to look at the British man. He wasn't wearing his glasses at the moment, so Arthur saw straight into his brilliant blue eyes.

"I'll assign you to Francis." Arthur mentally vomited.

"That bloody frog? You cannot be kidding me like this. I'd rather quit than work with that perverted bastard."

"Then quit." Arthur was close to the point of just yelling angrily at his manager. He didn't care about anything at that moment other than…well, he didn't know what he was really aiming for at this moment. Was it to question the manager's sudden personality change? The whereabouts of his partner? He wasn't truly sure.

"What are you going on about? Bloody hell, what's _wrong_ with you today?" It seemed he was testing Alfred's patience…or whatever he had that could be called patience.

"Yeah, well what do you know? Maybe I'm really like this! Maybe, I'm not just the happy, idiotic manager you think I am! Maybe I give a damn about my business and the success of this restaurant! There's nothing the hell wrong with me!" Arthur was taken aback by the sudden outburst, but fought back anyways.

"If this is really you, why put up a façade of being happy and carefree, you twat? You're American, you probably have some proverb for this somewhere! Something about first impressions and how they leave lasting imprints on the people you show them to!" Alfred was having enough of this blabber from his worker and pulled his arm back for a punch he hoped would knock out the British man. Arthur, who saw this motion, instinctively wanted to pull his arm back too, but thought otherwise.

At this moment, the door behind Arthur broke open as Ludwig and Feliciano came running inside, having heard the entire conversation from the outside. Alfred let loose the punch and it came at an almost bullet-like speed towards the green-eyed man. Ludwig, intent on stopping this senseless fight, jumped between them and lifted up his large hands, stopping the punch and taking a bit of damage. He grunted from the slight pain in his hands, but otherwise showed no signs of backing down.

"Ve~ Stop fighting! Violence won't solve anything!" Feliciano tried to pull Arthur back from the fighting while Ludwig blocked and pushed Alfred back. Soon, Alfred was panting heavily as he stared at Arthur, his eyes matching the expression on his face. Arthur was just as angry, but decided not to let his anger take him this time.

"You…you just don't understand, do you?" The three of them looked at Alfred as he composed himself and ordered Ludwig to release his hold on him. He just laughed bitterly while looking up at the ceiling.

"Of course you wouldn't. It's not like you know anything about me. The whole lot of ya. Doesn't matter anyways. I won't be around long enough for any of ya to understand." He followed his monologue with a loud laugh that sound bitter to all of the room's occupants.

"You…we can't understand you if you don't even bother to tell us anything. It's not like we've known you all of our lives. Most likely, we all live in different worlds. I don't even live in America, I'm just here by chance."

"Arthur's right! I don't think any of us are from America, right Ludwig? You're from Germany, right?" The tall blond man just nodded as they all looked at Alfred.

"Look, you guys…just forget this happened, all right? I don't need to lose all of my workers too. That just wouldn't be good for business, eh?" Alfred finally said, in his usual cheery voice, as he patted them all on the back. The three others in the room simply looked at him and shared a laugh.

"But that still doesn't mean my problem is solved. I still don't have a partner to work with."

"I'm tellin' ya, just work with Francis! It won't be so bad if you get used to him, you'll be seeing him around a lot, ya know."

"You make it sound like Kiku's never coming back here," Arthur commented, intending it to be a joke. He had to say, the changing of Alfred's expression from cheerful to doom-and-gloom had to be at record speed.

"Because he's not."

**Okay, I admit, a bit short, but I just thought I should update this. Dun dun dun! What's this? Kiku's not coming back? How can it be AsaKiku without Kiku? Thought I'd move the plot along. As you all probably know, this isn't the end, so stay tuned!**


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